Tag Archives: read across america

Joaquin Miller Elementary School and William McKinley Elementary School are just two of the Burbank Unified elementary school that celebrated Dr. Seuss’s Birthday and Read Across America Day with Read In Day on Friday, March 1.

Miller Principal Judy Hession is ready for Read In and Pajama Day. (Photo By Ross Benson)

Several Miller parents also volunteered their time to read to the students.

“The Miller Read In and Pajama Day is one of our staff and students’ favorite day,” commented Miller Principal Judy Hession. “We get to read for fun and the best part, we get to do this in our pajamas!”

“I had asked our readers to make sure that they talk about the importance of reading and how they use this skill each day,” added Hession. “I have seen how important it is to make sure that our students are able to read and to understand what they are reading before they move onto the middle school. We hope that students can see how reading is connected to everything that the will be doing in the future.”

More than 28 community members joined Read In Day at McKinley Elementary, such as Police Chief Scott LaChasse, Assistant Fire Chief Danny Alvarez and Burbank City employees and officials including Vice Mayor Sharon Springer. Board of Education members Charlene Tabet and Clerk Steven Frintner were joined by district staff, local business members and former McKinley Principal Ms. Holliday.

Local developer Michael Cusumano with students Amanda Lainez and Natalia Rubio for Read In Day at McKinley Elementary, where he also went to elementary school. (Photo By Ross Benson)

“The event was a fun and rewarding experience for our students to have the community members come read to them,” commented McKinley Principal Liz Costella and Community Liason Janeth Moreno.

“The students were really excited about having a visitor read to their classroom and being able to share what they have been learning this year.”

“Not only did the students enjoy the experience but all of the McKinley staff and guest readers had a wonderful time too.”

“Guest readers commented on the great conversations and interactions they had with the students.”

“They enjoyed not only getting to read to the students but getting to know more about what the students have learned this year and our McKinley Community”

“Our Community Read-In is one of our favorite annual events and we look forward to it each year.”

Miller Principal Judy Hession is ready for Read In and Pajama Day. (Photo By Ross Benson)

(Photo By Ross Benson)

(Photo By Ross Benson)

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(Photo By Ross Benson)

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Local developer Michael Cusumano with students Amanda Lainez and Natalia Rubio for Read In Day at McKinley Elementary, where he also went to elementary school. (Photo By Ross Benson)

The annual Miller Read In Day is a cherished event at Joaquin Miller Elementary School. City and school officials, parents and people from the community stopped by the school on Friday, March 3, to read to every class in Transitional Kindergarten through fifth grade.

“Miller’s Read In Day is one of our students’ and staff members’ favorite activities during the school year,” commented Principal Judy Hession. “We got to spend the day in our pajamas reading!”

Fifty-two guest readers visited the school for Miller Read In Day, reaching the school’s total population of approximately 770 students.

“Every classroom welcomed a guest reader to share a book with them and to talk about why reading is so important to who they are and what they do,” added Hession. “We want our students to know that they do not always have to read to learn information for school.”

Several members of the Burbank Fire Department, current and former staff members of theBurbank Unified School District, representatives from local business and community groups and 25 family members of Miller students also read to the students.

Forty members of the Burbank community, including the Vice Mayor, a City Councilmember and the Police and Fire Chiefs, visited Joaquin Miller Elementary School to read books to the students on Friday, March 4, as part of Read Across America Week.

“To celebrate Read Across America Week, the staff and students participated in a variety of planned activities that encourage reading,” said Principal Judy Hesson. “One of our students’ favorite is our Miller Read In Day.”

“Not only do we get to spend the day reading in our pajamas but we invite individuals from the city, the school district and our Miller parents to come into our classrooms and read a book and talk about why reading is so important in the job that they do.”

Members of the Burbank community visited several Burbank Unified School District elementary schools and local preschools on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 1 and 2, as part of the 16th annual National Read Across America Day.

The event, created by the National Education Association, honors beloved author Dr. Seuss on his birthday, March 2, and encourages reading.

More than 30 readers including City officials, firefighters, local business owners, police officers and BUSD officials stopped by William McKinley Elementary School to read Wednesday morning as well, said McKinley Principal Liz Costella.

Well-known children’s book author David Shannon visited Pre-Kinder, Transitional Kinder and Kindergarten students at George Washington Elementary School auditorium on Tuesday for a special reading of his popular No, David! books, according to Washington Principal Brandi Young.

Members of the Burbank community visited public schools to highlight the Read Across America program on Friday, March 6. Special events were also held during the first week of March at the Burbank Public Libraries to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss and promote literacy.

Burbank firefighters visited McKinley and Edison Elementary Schools, including several off-duty firefighters who volunteered their time to read to the children.

“We’ve been doing this for several years,” commented Eric Rowley, President of the Burbank Firefighter Association. “For us, any interaction we can have with the public, especially children, we seek out to establish and maintain a good relationship with the community.”

“Anytime we can be a positive role model to children, we like to do that,” he added.

Several Burbank Unified officials visited elementary school classrooms throughout the city.

“As a member of the administrative team working out of the district office, I seldom get a chance to visit school sites during the day,” said Kimberley Clark, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and BUSD Public Information Officer. “Read Across America is one of my favorite days of the year because it gives me a chance to personally connect with our students.”

“Ms. Ta’s students were quiet and respectful and thanked me for coming. During the question and answer period, each child told me the title of his or her favorite Dr. Seuss book,” added Clark, who read Seuss’ Fox in Socks to the second-graders.

Dr. John Paramo read a classic. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

“This is really a special event and Darla Gerharter, the Read Across America program coordinator for Disney Elementary School, does a marvelous job organizing this event for her school every year,” Clark also said. “It was an honor to be asked to participate again this year.”

“The class that stood out for me the most were the fifth-graders in Roseann Webb’s fifth grade class at McKinley,” commented Dr. John Paramo, BUSD Director of Secondary Education. “I read them the story Max’s Words.”

“The class was phenomenal. The level of questioning and engagement was nothing short of stellar,” Paramo added. “The teacher has obvious taught these students well and with rigor for them to be able to interact and engage the way they did.”

“The experience inspired me and made my day completely. I am so proud of the teacher and the students who are clearly ready for middle school. GO McKinley!”

Kissinger read The Lorax to Mr. Engel’s fifth-graders. At McKinley, he read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark to Ms. Pohlman’s class. He read Green Eggs and Ham to a first grade class at Disney Elementary.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for community members, parents, and District staff to engage in the promotion of literacy for elementary grades students,” commented Kissinger. “Every year, I look forward to this event.”

Now in it’s 18th year, Read Across America is a literacy program supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Members of the Burbank Firefighters Local 778 read Dr. Seuss books during the 2015 Read Across America. ( Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Washington Elementary celebrated Read Across America Day with a principal dressed head-to-toe in pink, new books and a special visit from the Cat in the Hat. Principal Brandi Young rode a scooter down the ramp from the cafeteria and around the entire group of approximately 450 children gathered on playground, as the youngsters cheered.

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

Young thanked the students for their efforts and the whole school applauded their achievement. She presented new books donated to classrooms on behalf of Washington Elementary families and staff.

“Back in the early fall, I asked all of my students to read their AR [Accelerated Reader] books and continuously take AR assessments weekly at their zone of Proximal Development Level,” explained Young. “I asked them to reach a school-wide goal of 5,250 AR points by Read Across America week and I would show up to school all in pink… head-to-toe!”

By morning of the Thursday, March 6, program, students had reached a total of 9850.8 points on the AR assessments.

Kindergarteners don’t take the AR tests until they have mastered their first 120 sight words, so about 400 children in first through fifth grades took the assessments. AR is a program from Renaissance Learning and is the world’s most widely used K-12 reading software, explained Young.

“It’s a way to encourage children to read more, read better books and it obviously works at our school,” she commented. “Students take a STAR Reading computer-adaptive assessment which gives our teachers a tool to help them quickly and accurately assess reading levels for their students.”

Washington Elementary Principal Brandi Young and Michelle Meta pose with scooter and carts of books for new breakfast reading program. (Photo By Lisa Paredes)

“Teachers and parents have commented to me that were never this inspired to read and take AR tests in the past,” added Young.

Young also introduced Michelle Meta, with whom she has been developing a breakfast reading program called “Read and Feed Each Day!” Meta showed the children the carts of donated library books available for the children to read in the mornings before school and talked about the program.

The books, along with board games, comics, magazines, recipes and more, will be set out for the students to read between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m.

“The goal of this project is to: ‘Help build brighter futures for our kids, schools, communities, and country by starting healthy habits early. Eating a good breakfast and reading before school sets kids up for success!'” explained Young. “Our goal is to get children to read these books every morning, before school begins.”

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

After the presentations, the whole school separated into established buddy reading groups for a mass read-in.

The Cat in the Hat character appeared later that morning and read to the students from the Dr. Seuss classic The Cat In The Hat.

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

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Washington Elementary Principal Brandi Young and Michelle Meta pose with scooter and carts of books for new breakfast reading program. (Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

(Photo By Lisa Paredes)

The Cat in the Hat and Principal in Pink for a day, Brandi Young, read to Washington Elementary children for Read Across America. (Photo Courtesy of Washington Elementary)